Dear Mr. Schuman,
This portrait is beautiful, and your caption is elegant in the way that simplicity and modesty complement the level of art and striving for the ever-better that you are making with every photo, every post, and every book. Love, love, love.
Amy in Nashville

Love this portrait. I met you this past season at NYFW in front of the Ralph Lauren show. My girlfriend and I just returned from Bali a few weeks ago and couldn’t have been more touched by the people there. It truly is an amazing country with equally amazing people. Experiencing their culture really allows us to step back from our every day life and realize how simple and enjoyable life can be.

I find something postcolonial about it, I don’t like it, there’s nothing “fashion” about it picture, it only contrasts poor child from Bali on a field with rich people in expensive clothes from the Western culture.

Is this ‘cute’ photograph not a little ignorant of the child’s living circumstances and the reason why he is working in rice fields and not at school? Great photo for the blog, but perhaps an acknowledgement of wider issues (especially evident in the t-shirt) at play here would help.

Actually, it was probably school holidays if this was taken in July. Most Indonesian kids are indulged and happy, regardless of their socio-economic situation. There are definitely wider issues here in Indonesia, but this picture doesn’t represent any of them.

This is easily one of my favorite photos on fashion and culture. I love the play of colors—turquoise/blues, yellow, whites, browns and greens; the rice paddy “stripes”; the boy’s expression and pose; the silhouette of the other farmer and the other ‘textures’ of the setting which you captured perfectly :)

I’m really waiting for the day THE SARTORIALIST will come to visit us here in the PHILIPPINES too! I visit your blog everyday and even have both of your books :D All the best!

I look forward to your pictorial of Indonesia! I visited a cousin there many years ago …. I was so struck by the vibrancy of the colours in the fabrics and batiks. And the Balinese dancers’ costumes!!! Can’t wait!

sorry, but there is nothing to be proud of, it’s quite easy to go to an emerging nation and to take a picture of cute, poor children, who arouse compassion. white European man with his camera worth more than the whole property of this boy’s family.

Your blog is about the curious and evolving world of fashion, absolute fashion moments are captured in your amazing photographs. But this image is very different. Could you have projected a western viewpoint/gaze onto this young person? The pose looks very constructed and very similar to how fashion magazine editors choose to present clothes on models. Your concluding comment under the image fuels the idea that this is useful for you and your blog.

I think the picture is lovely. But I don’t like your title. I think it juxtaposes privilege against the boy’s humanity. I have followed your blog for months now. You have a great eye. But it seems sometimes that you are in a bubble and perhaps not cognizant of the world outside your chosen field.

Scott, when I see a photograph of yours like this and the bit of effort it must have taken to stand in the water-logged field with your subject, I see you as a photographer first who just happens to admire and record the style/fashion of the day. The great irony of this shot is that the boy probably will never realize he was for a fleeting moment a single degree of separation from the fashion circles of Paris. It’s not your responsibility to raise the living standards of those perhaps less fortunate (I can only assume from the photograph) but it is your talent to record the spectrum of how and why people get dressed each day.

she is might not be working, kids in indonesia (especially kids in the villages) mostly playing in the rice/seaweed farm. They’re usually looking for fish or bugs. If she’s working, she will have some basket or her t-shirt and hand must be full of mud :)

It is became a common activity here. Some playground even put rice/seaweed farm full of mud so the children can play role like a farmer and then they will appreciate the job and their food later.

I really like his outfit. This photo shows what I love the most about fashion and style; that literally everyone is involved everyday, wether they think they are or not. We all make a decision to wear what we wear, with the exception of those who literally have no clothes. But to me this child totally strikes me as the kind of person who does think about it, and tries (with whatever limited resources he and his family might have) to put together the best outfit he can. If this outfit was on some skinny tan model looking person, half these commenters would be oohing and aching how chic, or retro, or some other overused hip fashiony term.

A photograph of contrasts. Most of us get to select our clothes to sort of communicate something, brands target their productions to very specific markets. These clothes have randomly ended up on this cute kiddo, and is like the opposite of intent. COOL pic, love it. And I dont understand how people can say this kid might have an unhappy life or be less privileged, is not money that make us happy, right?

For those with post-colonial hang ups, Scott is just capturing the moment of contact between two human beings from different world curious about each other – In Indonesia, a westerner (or half westerner) person could be an object of curiosity on the street.

Yes, Indonesia is a very messy place in all aspects of its being, but one visit there will show you that most of it are of their elite’s doing – just like in many African countries. So, please don’t blame the visiting westerner.